28 July 2003

Lady of Leisure

I took a vacation day today. Actually, I took one Friday as well, but because work was so heinous last week I had to �work from home� most of Friday, thus completely screwing my plans. I had suspected my weekend plans, spending Saturday and Sunday with a friend who is divorcing, would be taxing enough that I would require a day to recuperate. I was right.

I won�t get into the sordid details of my weekend, for that is my friend�s story. Suffice it to say that watching your good friend hurt and not being able to fix it is not fun. Even less fun is being the only friend out of a group of four who actually made the trip. I spent a great deal of time angry with the cowardly lot who made excuses to get themselves out of a painful weekend. His soon-to-be ex-wife is lucky I had other people on my shit list.

So, how does a single, 30 year old woman spend a random vacation day?

8:14 am: By some dumb luck the cats let me sleep in and I roll out of bed. I shuffle to the kitchen, feed the monsters, grumble about the mess on my counters and start the coffee pot. I yawn, stretch, scratch my head and sigh a good deal as well. I shuffle to the living room and turn on the TV to learn that Bob Hope has passed, and I am sad.

9:46 am: After two large latte-sized cups of coffee and some checking of e-mail, I decide to take a shower and head out to Best Buy. I am successful at my first mission of the day. I am showered and dressed by 10:37 and out the door.

10:52 am: My arrival at Best Buy does not garner the welcome it deserves. For the amount of money I spend there, they should have refreshments awaiting me each time I enter the store. I need to fire off a note to someone of import in the Best Buy corporation about that. As usual, the minute I walk in the door each CD and DVD on my mental wish list evaporates from my brain. I wander the aisles aimlessly for at least a half an hour. I begin to entertain thoughts of impulse buying every DVD that I have ever wanted. I settle on some Colin Firth fabulousness and a little Henry Fonda action and the ever adorable Timothy Hutton. The big shocker of the day is that the very cute, very young boy ringing my order up comments that "12 Angry Men" is one of his favorite movies. People, he was edible just standing there with his mouth shut. The thought that he has taste makes the song �Mrs. Robinson� churn in my head.

11:42 am: I make the mistake of swinging in to a furniture store that is advertised to death around here. They have really nice things at fairly decent prices. Once you walk through the front doors, however, you are sucked into this enormous maze of couches and end tables and bedroom sets and lounge chairs. This place is the size of an airplane hangar. Luckily, the sales-crazed loon who attaches himself to my side guides me to the bedroom set section and leaves me alone for two to three minutes at a time before asking �How are we DOING?� I will go back and purchase things, but sales people should be aware that if there is a comma in the price of something I am buying, I will not impulse buy like I do with Timothy Hutton movies, ok? And leave me alone to shop already.

12:42 pm: I settle in after my shopping experience, call the Chinese Food Delivery Dude and chow down on some sesame chicken. I watch Days of Our Lives, then some bad Sundance Channel stuff. The MSG takes hold and I fall asleep sometime around 2:12 pm.

3:02 pm: What the hell was that? I am roused from a nice dream by The Tard pushing my new DVDs and two books off of my coffee table and onto my hardwood floors. It�s a good thing I am awakened because a) the next thing in her path is my digital camera and b) my contacts are stuck firmly to my eyeballs. I scold the cat, shelve the camera, books and DVDs and head into the bathroom to lube up my eyes.

3:05 pm: I love the internet.

3:42 pm: I love napping more than the internet.

4:32 pm: The Tard doesn�t want me to sleep. She will, however, let me love the internet because she can sit on my desk and watch me type.

6:26 pm: I decide it is time to think about dinner, think about updating my site and think about calling my parents. I decide two out of three ain�t bad. Sorry Ma and Pa.

7:22 pm: Cat Smackdown in my living room, induced by catnip which was my last resort to get the Tard to leave my now shelved DVDs and books alone.

9:15 pm: Time to format and post. And hopefully catch some chat with some friends tonight.

I needed this day. I haven�t had a day of �nothing� in months. Perhaps I should resolve to do this once a month. It would lessen the need for gin and tonic in my life and would quite possibly cut back on the emotional outbursts I have at work.